2. Behaviorism is the prediction and control of
human behavior in which introspection
and/or independent thinking play no
essential part of its teaching methods.
The behaviorist recognizes no dividing line
between man and animal-both learn to
behave solely through a system of positive
and negative rewards.
3. Pavlov became famous for his behavioral
experiments with dogs, and he won the Nobel
Prize in Physiology in 1904.
Pavlov used conditioning on dogs called
classic conditioning: refers to the natural
reflex that occurs in response to a stimulus.
4. Skinner describes another form of
conditioning that is labeled as behavioral or
operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning: describes learning that
is controlled and results in shaping behavior
through the reinforcement of stimulus-
response patterns.
5. Bandura studied and is famous for his ideas
on social learning, which he renamed Social
Cognitive Theory.
Bandura believes that people acquire
behaviors, first, through the observation of
others and then, by using those observations
to imitate what they have observed.
Observation modeling: is watching something
then mimicking the observed behavior.
6. Behavioral approaches to teaching generally involve the
following:
1. Breaking down the skills and information to be learned into
small units.
2. Checking student's work regularly and providing feedback as
well as encouragement (reinforcement).
3. Teaching "out of context." Behaviorists generally believe that
students can be taught best when the focus is directly on the
content to be taught. Behavioral instruction often takes the
material out of the context in which it will be used.
4. Direct or "teacher centered" instruction. Lectures, tutorials,
drills, demonstrations, and other forms of teacher controlled
teaching tend to dominate behavioral classrooms.
7. Emphasis on behavior: Students should be active respondents to
learning, and in the learning process. They should be given an
opportunity to actually behave or demonstrate learning.
Secondly students should be assessed by observing behavior, we
can never assume that students are learning unless we can
observe that behavior is.
Changing Drill and practice: the repetition of stimulus response
habits can strengthen those habits. For example, some believe
that the best way to improve reading is to have students read
more and
More Breaking habits: in order to break habits, that teacher
needs to lead an individual to make a new response to this same
old stimulus.
8. Today the most successful expression of the behavioral
approach to educational technology is the Integrated
Learning System (ILS).
ILS’s generally begin with a computer-administered
diagnostic-prescriptive evaluation of the student's current
achievement level. Then the software breaks down the
content to be taught into small units, teaches a unit,
assesses progress, an then moves on to the next unit or
provides remedial instruction as indicated.
The most popular ILS’s cover core content areas such as
reading, language arts, and mathematics, but many also
include instruction in science and social studies.
9. I believe this theory is an amazing teaching
tool. Students currently learn everyday in our
classrooms using the behaviorism theory. I
believe this theory should be practiced and
learned by teachers everywhere to help
ensure proper learning. I plan on using the
behaviorism theory in my classroom one day
as well.
10. Behavioral Theories. (n.d.). Retrieved November
19, 2011, from
http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-
it/behavior.htm
Behaviorism. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2011, from
http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~Lynda_abbot/Behavioris
m.html
Photoes8. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2011, from
http://photos8.org/search.php?search=thinking&match_ty
pe=all
Shelly, G. B., Gunter, G. A., & Gunter, R. E. (2010).
Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the
Classroom. Boston, MA: Course Technology.